I purchased my garden plants and seeds from the local feed store like I have for years.  I have always had great luck.  Apparently this was not my year.  I do not know if it has anything to do with the store changing hands or just plain bad luck.  Regardless when I prepare for my fall garden, I am going to another establishment.

First, I bought tomato plants.  I wanted to try a few different varieties that they offered.  My plants are doing well despite the heat and lack of rain; however, I like to get what I pay for.  I did not purchase Roma tomatoes, which I happen to like, but those are the only tomatoes growing in my garden.  Every single plant was mismarked.  A slight bump in my gardening road.  No big deal.

I bought black-eyed peas to plant in rows.  About every fifth plant is a purple hull peas.  Again, no big deal.  Slight inconvenience.  You cannot tell the difference when cooked.

I planted several hills of pumpkin seeds, or so I thought.  I looked forward to pureeing pumpkin flesh for cakes and pies.  I looked forward to watching my children laugh and giggle as they each carved a pumpkin in October.  I looked forward to roasting the seeds and eating them as a snack.  I watched and waited expectantly as the plants took off.  They stretched their vines across the hay covered garden.  They began bearing fruit.  The fruit was not orange.

“Well that is odd,” I thought.

My dad saw them as he walked through our garden enjoying the sights.  They stopped him dead in his tracks.  “What did you plant here, Lara?”

“I planted pumpkins,” I responded knowing full well they did not look a bit like a pumpkin.

“Well, they need to pumpkin up!” he said as he laughed.

I knew I was growing some kind of gourd or squash.  I did not want a gourd or squash.  In addition, not all the plants were the same.  Half of the plants bore smooth and pale vegetables.  The other half bore striped green and white vegetables that look just like a watermelon.  When I cut into one, I halfway expected there to be pink flesh and black seeds.  I was perplexed and frustrated.  I wanted pumpkins!!

I think that I know what I am growing, but maybe ya’ll will actually know.  Please look at the following pictures and see if you can answer my great pumpkin mystery.  The only thing I can be sure of is these aren’t pumpkins.

The two mystery squashes.

The inside of the mystery squash.

Tags: gourd, mystery, pumpkin, squash

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 6:21 am and is filed under Gardening, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.